Japan has a new island after an undersea volcano erupted on Oct. 21 more than 740 miles south of Tokyo, but experts say the new land mass might not last.
Like many Japanese islands, this unnamed land mass in the Bonin Islands was formed by a phreatomagmatic eruption, an explosion that occurs when magma erupts through water. The interaction spurs a concurrent ejection of rocks, ash, and smoke, according to the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute. This is one of the most hazardous types of volcanic eruptions on Earth.
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“The island has shrunk as its crumbly surface is washed away by waves, and volcanic activity has subsided,” Yuji Usui, an analyst in the Japan Meteorological Agency’s volcanic division, said. “We just have to see the development, but the island may not last very long.”
Volcanic rumblings are nothing new near Iwo Jima, and similar eruptions have happened under the sea in recent years. Despite Japan having 14,125 islands, many caused by an increase in volcanic eruptions near Iwo Jima, “a new island is a significant development,” Usui said.
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Volcanologist Setsuya Nakada from the University of Tokyo told the Japan Times the underwater volcanic eruption that formed the island started as a “vertical jet” of solidified magma that shot high above the waves. After that, the eruption was sustained by continuous bursts. As all the debris fell back into the ocean as lava, mixed with a porous, low-density material called pumice, the mound of rock built until it was high enough to peek out of the depths like a periscope.
This fresh land mass, which sits right off the coast of Iwo Jima, is home to the Ogasawara Islands. It is nicknamed “the Galapagos of the Orient” due to the many plant and animal species that have evolved independently there, untouched by humans.
